Friday marked the beginning of a weekend full of celebrations for the Church of Apostles for its 150th anniversary with a sold-out Parish dinner. A written history of the Parish was launched, along with a commemorative quilt.

On Saturday, the church and Parish Pastoral centre will hold an open house from 11am until 4.30pm. A display of the church history will be shown. From 2pm, various musicians will play.

Father Mark Freeman will go to various parts of the church and tell visitors of its history between the musicians.

On Sunday, a mass and a ceremony to dedicate the church will be held.

Parish pastoral council chair Donna McWilliam said everyone was welcomed to celebrate the event.

“Everyone in Launceston knows where it is, but perhaps they don’t know what it is,” Mrs McWilliam said.

Father Freeman said people were travelling from all over the world to celebrate their long-term connection to the church this weekend.

“The church, when it was built, wouldn’t have been free of debt. It was practise that you didn’t consecrate churches until they were free of debt,” Father Freeman said.

“Over the 150 years, we never got around to dedicating the church. It was opened and it was blessed. But never consecrated as a permanent building for religious purposes.

“People sort of look at you as if to say ‘hasn’t it been consecrated?’ and technically, no, it hasn’t. Even though it’s been use for all those 150 years,” he said. It has taken more than 18 months to organise the event.